Friday, November 14, 2008

Mumbai, Nov. 12 Warning of hard days ahead, Mr RatanTata has asked all the Tata Group companies to put on hold their acquisition and capital expenditure plans.

In a letter sent to heads of the group firms and their subsidiaries, Mr Tata has asked them to drastically cut operational expenditure and improve efficiencies.

“Put on hold any plans for acquisition unless considered strategically critical and also defer non-essential capital expenditure and capacity expansion,” Mr Tata, head of the Tata group, said in the letter, prescribing a set of belt-tightening measures for the group firms to weather the financial storm that is blowing across the globe.

To shore up as much cash possible, he has told companies to finalise pending loans and funding agreements, even if they involve accepting higher interest rates.

“Some of our companies with substantial foreign operations or those which have made substantial acquisitions are already facing major problems in raising capital or establishing lines of credit for their operations,” Mr Tata said.

The Tata group had made several big ticket acquisitions overseas including Corus Steel and the iconic auto brands Jaguar and Land Rover in the UK . The group had raised large sums in debt to finance these acquisitions.

“In India also many of our companies already are or will soon face major problems in their access to credit due to the lack of liquidity in the domestic market as also their inability to effectively raise equity due to the depression in the stock market and the erosion of investor confidence,” said Mr Tata.

Despite the measures announced by various Governments, liquidity will continue to be a major problem. “This state of affairs is not likely to improve substantially over the next 12 months.”

“I believe each of our companies needs to undertake a critical review of its cash flow requirement. Business plan with defined strategies need to operate in this difficult period. Failure to manage this crisis could result in irretrievable positions.” Mr Tata has advised the top management to form task forces to prepare plans of action by early January with specific targets to face the difficult months ahead.

Thursday, November 06, 2008

The first 3 digits of barcode 690.691.692 is made in CHINA. Do not ever buy it for your own health.

471 is Made in Taiwan

This is a human right to know, but the government and related department never educate the public, therefore we have to rescue ourselves. Remember.

00-13: USA & Canada

20-29: In-Store Functions

30-37: France

40-44: Germany

45: Japan (also 49)

46: Russian Federation

471: Taiwan

474: Estonia

475: Latvia

477: Lithuania

479: Sri Lanka

480: Philippines

482: Ukraine

484: Moldova

485: Armenia

486: Georgia

487: Kazakhstan

489: Hong Kong

49: Japan (JAN-13)

50: United Kingdom

520: Greece

528: Lebanon

529: Cyprus

531: Macedonia

535: Malta

539: Ireland

54: Belgium & Luxembourg

560: Portugal

569: Iceland

57: Denmark

590: Poland

594: Romania

599: Hungary

600 & 601: South Africa

609: Mauritius

611: Morocco

613: Algeria

619: Tunisia

622: Egypt

625: Jordan

626: Iran

64: Finland

690-692: China

70: Norway

729: Israel

73: Sweden

740: Guatemala

741: El Salvador

742: Honduras

743: Nicaragua

744: Costa Rica

746: Dominican Republic

750: Mexico

759: Venezuela

76: Switzerland

770: Colombia

773: Uruguay

775: Peru

777: Bolivia

779: Argentina

780: Chile

784: Paraguay

785: Peru

786: Ecuador

789: Brazil

80 - 83: Italy

84: Spain

850: Cuba

858: Slovakia

859: Czech Republic

860: Yugoslavia

869: Turkey

87: Netherlands

880: South Korea

885: Thailand

888: Singapore

890: India

893: Vietnam

899: Indonesia

90 & 91: Austria

93: Australia

94: New Zealand

955: Malaysia

977: International Standard Serial Number for Periodicals (ISSN)

978: International Standard Book Numbering (ISBN)

979: International Standard Music Number (ISMN)

980: Refund receipts

981 & 982: Common Currency Coupons

99: Coupons

With more and more milk products from China and Taiwan having problem. We really got to check where the things are produced. Here is a way to differentiate Taiwan made products and China made products : by looking at first three digits of its Bar Code.

If the 1st 3 digits are 690, 691 or 692 - China made If the 1st 3 digits are 471 - Taiwan made